Are you ready to set yourself up for success in 2025? In order to do so we need to evaluate our sales strategies from 2024 so that we can truly move the needle towards success in 2025.
Celebrating wins and learning from setbacks
The first thing that I like to do is to sit down and look at what were some of my top sales strategies, and what were the products that really performed well for me.
What were the events that I executed that really brought in the most revenue and how can I capitalize on those, and iterate on those as I move into the new year to as I move into the new year to boost sales even more?
If I have a strategy, or a product collection, or a best-selling product that has really worked well, and it is proven, and customers love it, I’m getting great feedback, then I want to continue to make the most of that product offering.
Reviewing sales data to create winning sales strategies
I love to take a look at my sales data. A comprehensive analysis of your sales strategies is essential to making informed decisions.
If you are running on Shopify or whatever platform that you are selling on, you should have that data easily accessible in the reports and take a look at what your customers are already buying and loving from you.
How can you iterate that product to make additional products, potentially even to bundle with it or adjacent products that customers will love just as equally well?
This is an easy way to look back on your sales data from the past year and to really capitalize on those customer favorites and big wins and to set yourself up for success as you move into the new year.
Now, on the flip side, you also want to take a look at your products that are underperforming.
You often think that carrying these products doesn’t cost you money, but it does.
When they are sitting on your shelves and you’re carrying inventory or even just marketing those products, it takes time, effort, energy to carry, create and market, and sell those products.
What product offerings do you need to retire and get out of your product portfolio?
Looking past just your products and your product portfolio, what activities did you do?
What marketing, lead generation, sales activities did you do that served your business well?
What sales channels brought in the most revenue, the most profit for you?
Also, looking at the other end, what were some of those activities that you did that really did not serve your business, or maybe that you need to stop, and were not worth the time and the energy that you invested?
Maybe you don’t need to stop doing those activities, but you need to outsource them.
It could be simple things like updating your website, or doing search engine optimization (SEO) for your website.
It could be other things like you need to hire someone to help you make your products and package your products for shipping.
Thinking through these things really help center your business around helping you create a CEO mindset for growth.
It’s also vitally important for you as a business owner to think through the things that brought you joy.
What activities in your business brought you joy, and what activities did you absolutely dread doing on a daily or weekly basis?
Where can you outsource those activities and add it to your team?
Maybe outsourcing a few hours a month to someone that can take that off your plate, so you can focus on more strategic revenue generating CEO mindset activities for your business.
You want to create a sustainable business that you love, something that brings you joy.
So, I want you to think through those activities that you really enjoyed, and then the activities that you really struggled with and you dreaded.
How can you outsource those and get them off your plate?
Now that you’ve spent time thinking through and reflecting on the past year, things that worked well, things that didn’t, things that you need to get off your plate, I want you to set aside time to really set some strategic goals for your new year.
Strategic goals for the new year and enhanced sales strategies
Set aside some time, sometimes I spend a whole weekend doing this, or a whole week just getting out of my daily regular rhythms, getting away from my home, maybe taking a retreat, or a small solo vacation somewhere, and setting those goals for my business.
I want to make sure that they align with the values for my business, with the mission of my business, and where I want to head for the new year.
And I set specific goals, and sales and revenue goals.
I want them to be realistic, but I also want them to push me, and my team to grow, and look at the big picture.
Sometimes, we set goals that are too realistic and that can prevent us from really pushing and stretching ourselves.
So, I want to challenge you that it’s okay to set realistic goals, but also set those stretch goals too.
Don’t be afraid to really stretch yourself and your team.
Once I have my big goals outlined, and I am confident, and I ensure that they align with my mission and values for my business, that’s really when I dig in and start to set the smart framework for my goals.
The power of SMART goals
Most everyone knows what smart goals are, but they’re specific, measurable, attainable, relatable and time driven.
I love setting these smart goals.
I usually do them in the form of KPIs or key performance indicators, and I review them with my team so that we’re all on the same page and we all are heading in the same direction towards our big picture goals for the year.
At any point in time, I can take a look at my performance indicators and they let me know if my business is on the right track to hitting my overall goals for the year.
So, it’s a very easy way to make sure that you have a good pulse check on the health of your business in achieving your goals.
Once you have your smart goals in place, and this is really where you can get to the tactical day to day planning for your new year.
Tactical day-to-day planning for your winning sales strategies
I love to do a calendar mapping session so that I understand my big product launches, my big events throughout the year.
I understand the holiday seasons that are coming up and when I need to be making my products and talking about them and positioning them to retailers.
Because we all know in the wholesale industry, seasonality is so important and retailers are buying months in advance.
And so, I love to put all of that into a calendar, so myself and my team are all on the same page as far as product launches and what events are coming up.
It’s a very tactical planning strategy that I highly, highly recommend for everyone that has a product-based business.
If you need help with this, you can grab my strategic wholesale planner for product makers right here.
It is so helpful, has a lot of tips and tricks in there for any product-based businesses that need help with the seasonality of wholesaling, even with selling direct-to-consumer.
This planner will definitely help you with setting yourself up for success as you move into the new year.
The importance of rest and well-being
Then, of course, last thing is just taking time to rest and recover from an overwhelmingly busy holiday season.
I can’t stress this enough how important it is to just take time to slow down, to rest, and to just enjoy the season.
I don’t think that we do that enough, especially in this season, but also just in our everyday lives.
So, I want to encourage you in this season to just be, just enjoy.
There is always, always, always something to do in your business, but if you don’t slow down and enjoy, then what is it all worth?
So, that being said, don’t forget to plan time to rest.
I hope that this was helpful in getting you ready with actionable insights and a tactical planning strategy so that you will thrive in 2025!
Resources
Strategic wholesale planner for product makers – The yearly planner that will take the guesswork out of creating an organized rhythm for your product-based business https://andeehart.com/strategic-planner
Join the Wholesale Collective – https://andeehart.com/wholesale
